


What the Price of Truth

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Lies, Misdirection, and Terrible Truth [19]
Category: Mythology - Fandom, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: GFY, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:58:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A shift in the air announces the guests he's been expecting for a while now, and he waves a hand at the empty spaces without turning to look at them. "I give you my word I will not harm you, Agent Barton. Nor Agent Coulson."</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Price of Truth

The maze is quiet, soft crackles and pops of wood burning all that breaks that silence. He is alone, Anat and the Morrigan elsewhere to tend to what they wish, and leaving him this sanctuary, with its sprawling rooms of life.

A shift in the air announces the guests he's been expecting for a while now, and he waves a hand at the empty spaces without turning to look at them. "I give you my word I will not harm you, Agent Barton. Nor Agent Coulson."

The former, after all, he still thinks of as his own, and the latter - well, he thinks it might be more difficult than it might appear. He'd tried once before, after all.

There's a snort, barely enough to break the quiet, and slowly the two come around into his line of sight, Coulson pausing a moment before sitting on one of the benches. Barton doesn't sit, but stands behind Coulson, his stance clearly protective. He won't allow Loki to hurt the other agent, and he doesn't trust Loki's word on the matter. Expected.

Silence reigns for a long while, none of them entirely inclined to break it. Not at first. Loki wonders why SHIELD sent the particular pair of agents they did - unless Fury had made the choice simply because he thought them most likely to be allowed in. He certainly couldn't know that they might be the only two Loki thought could navigate the maze here.

"Director Fury thought you should be aware that the being known as Thanos has been incarcerated at an undisclosed SHIELD facility for the foreseeable future." Coulson finally broke the silence, though his voice was calm, unhurried. Not as if he'd been uncomfortable with the silence, but only because he had decided it was time to speak. "He also wished to extend an invitation for you to provide your point of view on certain events pertaining to the Chitauri and their attempts to invade Earth."

No mention of Loki's complicity in the first event, no questions about what had happened before, or in between. Just an open-ended offer, though why now, Loki isn't certain. Unless his allies are right after all, and the mortals can learn to understand. It would be a pleasant surprise, indeed.

"And what price to hear my story?" Loki cannot trust it on face value, not yet. He would like that surprise of understanding, but he will not let himself hope for it.

"An unspecified favor that Director Fury can call in at any point in the future. He does promise that it will not involve any detention at a SHIELD facility, nor any testing of anything about your person without your explicit permission." That, Loki suspects, is not because Fury wished to make that promise. There's someone else's hand in it, and he thinks it likely to be Coulson's. The mortal is intriguing and strange, beyond even that the Morrigan finds him so.

"I reserve the right to refuse any request that he might make, without providing a reason." Loki knows better than to agree to an open-ended offer without adding his own caveats. It's far too easy to manipulate such things to take advantage of one party or another.

"Agreed." Coulson smiles briefly, before his expression returns to its habitual stoic calm. "I can contact you at a later point to arrange a time and place to speak with Director Fury, at a neutral location of your choice."

"Here. Now." Loki isn't going to let himself be drawn out of his sanctuary right now, not until the rest of the heroes have had a chance to work out what they wish to think about the battle and the capture of Thanos.

Coulson pauses, raising an eyebrow before he nods. He removes a phone from his pocket, fiddling with it a moment - no doubt to record the conversation, to which Loki has no objection. When the mortal is ready, Loki smiles, and begins.


End file.
